Nearly half of parents believe nothing can be done to reduce their child's risk of developing myopia, according to a new national survey from All About Vision (AAV) that highlighted gaps in parental understanding of myopia prevention, symptoms, and available management options.
The survey, titled "The Myopia Awareness Gap," was conducted by The Harris Poll among 704 US parents of children younger than 18. According to the survey, 48% of parents believe nothing can be done to reduce a child's risk of developing myopia. However, research cited by AAV indicates that spending more time outdoors during childhood may help reduce the risk or delay the onset of nearsightedness. The survey found that only 40% of parents reported that their children spend more than 1 hour outdoors daily, but AAV noted that eyecare professionals recommend at least 2 hours of outdoor time per day to help reduce or delay myopia onset.
Screen use was another area of misunderstanding. Almost half of parents (46%) believed children must spend at least 3 hours per day using screens before their myopia risk increases. According to research cited in the report however, increased risk has been associated with approximately 1 hour of daily screen time and the odds of myopia nearly double by 4 hours. Additionally, 68% of parents reported that their children do not consistently hold digital devices at recommended viewing distances, while the same percentage said their children do not consistently avoid screens before bedtime.
The survey also identified gaps in recognizing symptoms of uncorrected myopia. Forty-six percent of parents were unaware that frequent headaches can be a symptom of uncorrected nearsightedness in children. “Difficulty seeing the board at school is probably going to be the first sign,” said Sudha Nallasamy, MD, pediatric ophthalmologist and associate director of The Vision Center at Children's Hospital Los Angeles, in an interview that accompanied the report. “At home, parents might notice that their child can't read street signs from as far away as they can.”
Awareness of myopia management treatments was also limited. Only 42% of parents had heard of specialty spectacle lenses designed for myopia control, and misconceptions about delaying spectacle correction in children with myopia persist. “Keeping them out of glasses longer when they're nearsighted is actually detrimental to their vision, and we think it can make the myopia progress faster,” said Marina Eisenberg, MD, a pediatric ophthalmologist at Cleveland Clinic's Cole Eye Institute, who was interviewed for the report.
AAV emphasized the importance of early recognition and management of childhood myopia, and noted that greater degrees of nearsightedness are associated with increased risks of retinal detachment, cataracts, and glaucoma later in life. The organization cited projections that myopia could affect approximately 5 billion people worldwide by 2050, including nearly 40% of children if current trends continue. The full findings are available in AAV's childhood myopia parent awareness report.